The present embodiments relate generally to seals, and more particularly to seals for use within gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines include airfoils, such as blades and vanes, arranged in cascade configurations. These airfoils can be mounted circumferentially around a rotor or stator disk or case having one or more retention slots. The airfoils can include platforms that define a portion of a fluid flowpath boundary, such that adjacent airfoils mounted in the disk adjoin one another at their respective platform matefaces. However, an interface between adjacent platforms is not air tight, but instead defines a gap through which fluids can leak. Given that in many embodiments a single disk can have over 100 adjacent platforms, and thus over 100 gaps, the cumulative fluid leakage through the gaps can be significant, resulting in undesirable pressure loss and a reduction in efficiency.
Many current designs utilize a damper spring seal within a chamber defined between a platform and an inner and/or outer diameter shroud. However, use of the damper spring seal within the chamber creates multiple fluid leakage paths and results in heavy wear at the damper spring seal contact locations on the platform.